Christian Olsson (born 25 January 1980) is a former
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
athlete competing in
high jump and
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
. He won an Olympic gold medal, one gold and one silver medal in the World Championships and two gold medals in the European Championships as well as a further two golds in the World Indoor championships. He also won the overall
IAAF Golden League
The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...
jackpot in 2004 where he cashed in 500,000 US dollars (after splitting the million dollar pot with
Tonique Williams-Darling
Tonique Williams-Darling ( Williams; born January 17, 1976, Nassau, Bahamas) is a Bahamian sprint athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
College
She attended ...
).
From 2007 to his retirement in 2012, he was beset by injuries which left him largely on the sidelines and unable to compete at top level competitions.
Biography
Olsson was born in
Gothenburg, and made his international breakthrough in 2001 when he won silver at the
2001 World Championships in Athletics
The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...
. He has the Swedish national record outdoors, 17.79 m (
2004 Summer Olympics), and the Swedish national record indoors, 17.83 m (2004). Olsson has won the Swedish Championships seven times, and has also competed successfully on national level in
high jumping.
On 7 March 2004, at the
2004 World Indoor Championships in Athletics, he jumped 17.83 m and matched the
World Record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
. On 23 August 2004, at the
2004 Summer Olympics, he jumped 17.79 m, broke the national record and won the gold medal as the first Swede since
Gustaf Lindblom in
1912, 92 years earlier. Four of his six jumps were longer than the silver medalist's best jump.
With the Olympic Gold he completed a rare international sweep, having the Olympic, World Indoor, Outdoor, Regional (European) Indoor and Outdoor titles.
Olsson first became interested in triple jump after watching
Jonathan Edwards set the world record at the
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in his hometown Gothenburg. Since 1999, Olsson has been trained by
Yannick Tregaro. Before that, Olsson was trained by
Viljo Nousiainen Viljo Nousiainen (9 March 1944 – 11 June 1999) was a prominent Swedish Finn athletics coach.
Career
Nousiainen was born in Kiuruvesi. As an athletics coach, he specialized in training jumpers for Örgryte IS Sports Club in Gothenburg during t ...
.
During the autumn and winter 2004/2005 he injured his foot (an injury originating from the 2004 Olympic Final), preventing him from being able to do triple-jumping at full speed. Unfortunately the injury healed very slowly, and it was still in January 2006 hampering him. In his first competition after the injury, in June 2006, he jumped 17.09 and seem to be back into shape.
A month later he won the gold medal at
European Championships in his hometown Gothenburg, with a jump of 17.67 m.
At the beginning of the 2007 indoor season, Olsson was injured yet again, and was unable to compete at the
European indoor championships.
Olsson returned to competition in June at the
IAAF Golden League
The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...
event in Oslo, jumping 17.33 m. In July, he won Golden League event in Paris with 17.56 m. At the Golden League event in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, he retired after the second round due to a
cramp
A cramp is a sudden, involuntary, painful skeletal muscle contraction or overshortening associated with electrical activity; while generally temporary and non-damaging, they can cause significant pain and a paralysis-like immobility of the aff ...
.
Olsson went to the
2007 World Championships in Athletics
The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...
but had to pull out before the competition due to an injury during training.
After almost one year of
rehabilitation
Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to:
Health
* Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished
* Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
, he returned to competition in July 2008 at the annual event in
Stockholm, "DN Galan", but had to pull out due to injury. Afterwards, he announced that he would not compete anymore during the 2008 season; hence he would not participate in the
Beijing Olympics. He also suggested that he might retire from the sport. Upon a request from the Swedish Olympic team, Olsson agreed to carry the Swedish flag during the opening ceremony.
In July 2009, Olsson made a comeback in a minor event arranged by Örgryte IS in
Gothenburg. He then jumped 17.24 m.
On 3 August 2009 Olsson competed in Swedish Championships in Malmö. He won the competition with a jump at 16.72 m. This was the first competition Olsson failed to reach 17 m or more since he jumped in a competition in Birmingham in 2003.
On 14 May 2012, Olsson ultimately declared his intentions to retire from professional triple jump competitions.
Christian Olsson lives with his family in
Lindome
Lindome () is a civil parish and a locality situated in Mölndal Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 13,830 inhabitants in the parish in 2009 (11,037 inhabitants in the locality in 2010). The Swedish comic creator Rune Andreasson ...
, south of
Göteborg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...
.
Competition record
Other victories
Triple jump
*2001:
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
(Grand Prix) - 17.08 m;
Vaasa
Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas), (European Cup first league) - 17.00 m;
Rethymno
Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ...
(athletics meet) - 17.49 m
*2002:
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
(Grand Prix) - 17.40 m;
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
(European Cup first league) - 17.63 m;
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
(
IAAF Golden League
The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...
) - 17.63 m; Berlin (Golden League) - 17.40 m; Paris (Grand Prix Final) - 17.48 m
*2003:
Lappeenranta
Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...
(European Cup first league) - 17.38 m; Rethymno (athletics meet) - 17.55 m;
Gateshead (Grand Prix) - 17.92(w) m;
Stockholm (Grand Prix) - 17.36 m; Monaco (
World Athletics Final
The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...
) - 17.55 m
*2004:
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
(Grand Prix) - 17.61 m;
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
(Golden League) - 17.58 m;
Bydgoszcz (European Cup super league) - 17.30 m; Gateshead (Grand Prix) - 17.43 m; Rome (Golden League) - 17.50 m; Paris
Saint-Denis (Golden League) - 17.41 m;
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Zürich ...
(Golden League) - 17.46 m;
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
(Golden League) - 17.44 m; Berlin (Golden League) - 17.45 m; Monaco (
World Athletics Final
The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...
) - 17.66 m
*2006:
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
(European Cup super league) - 17.40 m;
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
(Grand Prix) - 17.62 m; London (Grand Prix) - 17.42 m; Zürich (Golden League-meet) - 17.39 m
*2007: Vaasa (European Cup first league) - 17.33 m; Paris Saint-Denis (Golden League) - 17.56 m; Rome (Golden League) - 17.19 m
International awards
*
Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2004
*Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2003
Personal bests
*
Triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
**Indoor - 17.83 metres
**Outdoor - 17.79 metres
*
High jump - 2.28 metres
*
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...
- 7.71 metres
References
External links
*
*
*
*
BBC Sports Article - (2004 Summer Olympics)BBC Sports Article - (2003 World Championships in Athletics)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Christian
1980 births
Living people
Athletes from Gothenburg
Olympic athletes of Sweden
Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Sweden
Swedish male triple jumpers
Swedish male high jumpers
Swedish expatriates in Monaco
World Athletics Championships medalists
European Athletics Championships medalists
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Örgryte IS Friidrott athletes
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Goodwill Games medalists in athletics
IAAF Golden League winners
European Athlete of the Year winners
World Athletics Indoor Championships winners
World Athletics Championships winners
Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games